November 15, 2010: GM dismantles my sign and all that I ever worked for.

From:  Don Signer, President
Signer Buick-Cadillac
Newark, California                                        

After twenty-nine years in business, on November 30, 2009 I completed the painful process of closing Signer Buick-Cadillac as a result of GM’s termination of my franchises along with hundreds of other targeted franchises in the United States at the time GM filed bankruptcy on June 1, 2009.  (For original dealership closure message click here.)  My franchises technically remained in effect until October 31, 2010, after which GM ordered the sign to be removed from my property on November 15, 2010. 

An hour after the truck carrying my GM sign drove away, the cover was taken off the awaiting “Cadillac” sign on the GM-owned former Saturn facility two doors down the street, thus signifying the opening of Fremont Cadillac-GMC-Buick.  Subsequently, a temporary cover displaying the name of the new dealership was placed over the Saturn sign.

 

This new dealership was the result of GM’s awarding of my Buick and Cadillac franchises to former Saturn dealer Inder Dosanjh, to whom GM had planned to give my franchises since mid-2008.  Mine was the eighth, and GMC from defunct Fremont Pontiac-GMC was the ninth, East Bay GM dealership Mr. Dosanjh had acquired since April 2008 in a GM-supported, mysterious and unprecedented spending spree of dizzying speed.  The first seven of those dealerships, three of which Mr. Dosanjh closed down within months, were purchased in a fourteen month period ending in May 2009 as General Motors was plummeting toward bankruptcy.*  Mine was the only dealership that GM stole for Mr. Dosanjh’s benefit.  

As GM’s terminations of dealers like me were supported by the U. S. Treasury Department’s Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry at the time of the June 2009 $50 billion TARP bailout, this legalized confiscation of my business for the benefit of a favored person is an action that one would not believe could happen even in a corrupt third world country, let alone in the United States of America. 

The engineering of demise: As despicable as the aforementioned theft was, it represents only a footnote in the final chapter of GM’s adversarial, and often corrupt**, actions with me for nearly two decades.  My story is one of illogical business decisions imposed by GM while it ruthlessly engineered the demise of a dedicated career-long GM dealer who happened to be in the path of the automaker’s local market takeover plan.  

After my many years of superior performance and consistently excellent factory relations, in the early 1990’s GM initiated actions that denied me opportunities, and evolved into its intense efforts to induce my exit beginning in 1998 to achieve factory control of the local market.  The unbelievable story is extremely complex, but it could possibly be sum­marized in a few general plots:                                         

  • GM refusal to support my relocation to the Fremont Auto Mall: This refusal was despite the five years and $160,000 I had invested by 1992 in this complicated multi-party project I co-developed with nearly all Fremont dealers.  Instead, GM used strong-armed tactics to coerce me into relocating to its illogical, yet higher priced, site in Newark.  I ultimately succumbed to GM’s pressure and threats by building a new facility, and relocating there, against my will in 1995. 
  • Buick 90+% national sales decline engineered by GM: GM’s planned long-term phase-out of Buick (salvaged by GM at the last minute in its bankruptcy due to Buick’s recent sales success in China) was accompanied by its repeatedly denying me the Pontiac-GMC franchises needed to restore dealership viability as GM shifted its emphasis to trucks.  GM’s first denial of an eventual four, none of which were related to dealership performance, was my 1991 purchase of DiGiulio Pontiac-GMC with plans to relocate the brands to the Fremont Auto Mall with Buick and Cadillac.  GM’s subsequent decimation of the Buick product portfolio, combined with its repeatedly denying me the GMC truck line it wanted all Buick dealers to have, plunged my dealership into non-viability in recent years and deprived me of millions of dollars of return on investment. 
  • GM’s targeting of Newark market for factory takeover:  This subversive plan led to GM’s abrupt late 1997 removal of Newark’s “Fremont Pontiac-Olds-GMC” dealer, which was immediately followed by GM’s multiple efforts to induce my exit while outside picketers, I believe instigated by GM, marched for eight months in front of my dealership while GM urged me to sell.  Over time, GM appointed three different GM-funded operators for its seized Pontiac-GMC dealership, all of whom resigned or failed.  GM had intended for that dealership to take over my franchises as well.  The Pontiac-GMC dealership failed and closed in January 2009, yet GM continued, without cause, to deny me the two brands as it withheld GMC (Pontiac division ended with GM’s bankruptcy) in order to give it to Inder Dosanjh when it gave him my franchises, as noted above.
  • GM’s 2005 secret plan to implement without me the same Fremont Auto Mall Buick-Pontiac-GMC-Cadillac plan it once denied me, accompanied by GM harassment to induce my exit:  In early 2005, GM executed a conspired effort whereby many of its employees urged me to sell before I learned of its Auto Mall plan.  My disinterest in selling was met with GM’s secret implementation of multiple unconscionable conspired actions to harass me into conceding to its wishes, which began immediately after a secret April 13, 2005, internal GM e-mail series outlining a conspired scheme to induce my exit.**  These financially and emotionally damaging events included the following:
    • 2005: Malicious GM warranty audit, unauthorized by GM home office
    • 2005: IRS audit on dealership corporation, the first ever
    • 2006: GMAC defamatory false message to auctions, kept secret from me
    • 2006: GMAC audit for secret illegal GM/GMAC dealership financial information sharing scheme
    • 2007-2008: IRS audit on my personal return, the first ever

Now that in 2010 Inder Dosanjh acquired the franchises GM confiscated from me after years of engineering my demise, he will reportedly go forward with construction of a new Buick-Cadillac-GMC facility in the Fremont Auto Mall while he operates temporarily in the Newark former Saturn facility. 

Attempt to recover damages:  By 2006, it became apparent that the actions GM imposed upon me over many years cost me many millions of dollars due to GM’s engineering of the Buick collapse, accompanied by groundlessly denying me Pontiac-GMC, and destroying the value of my Newark facility through its planned abandonment of Newark.  After consideration of all factors, in October 2006, in an attempt to amicably settle the issue and be fairly compensated, I offered GM a price to buy my franchises and the facility at current value.  In response, GM initially pleaded with me not to sue.  GM senior management considered my settlement offer, but rejected it in January 2007, thus forcing me to file suit against GM and GMAC in February 2007.  In March 2007 GM made me a mid-seven figure settlement offer, which was unacceptable considering my damages.  In April 2007, GM filed a motion to dismiss my suit, which was followed by the judge’s upholding of eight counts going forward to trial.  The judge retired in August 2008.  In May 2009, after 27 months of my preparation for a trial scheduled to begin July 20, GM was mysteriously able to get the new judge to dismiss all eight counts in a disturbing extremely rare granting of summary judgment.  This action denied me my right to present my case to a jury, which I believe would have led to an eight-figure ($10,000,000-$99,999,999) jury award, and set a precedent for other similarly damaged dealers.  Thus, the judge’s action could potentially have saved GM hundreds of millions of dollars and extensive negative publicity.  While I am confident an appeal would have reversed the bizarre dismissal, I did not pursue it due to GM’s bankruptcy filing in June 2009 that left it nothing to pay an award. 

Sad sight of a destroyed lifetime investment.
Treasury Department avoids investigation of GM/IRS collusion, Signer reports to FBI: In June 2010, I filed a complaint with the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA,) the Treasury Department’s office that investigates IRS fraud, waste, and abuse.  My complaint contained overwhelming document-supported evidence that GM instigated the aforementioned 2005 and 2007-2008 IRS audits as harassment to induce my exit.  After my multiple subsequent unsuccessful attempts at learning the status of the TIGTA investigation, in April 2011, TIGTA informed two inquiring Members of Congress that it found no evidence of GM/IRS harassment conspiracy in carefully-worded letters that clearly implied, but did not directly state, that the office had conducted an investigation of my allegations.  In June 2011 I obtained internal documents that state that TIGTA did not investigate my allegations, thus proving that, in truth, TIGTA “found no evidence” because it didn’t look.  As TIGTA’s actions further confirm to me my observation of GM/IRS collusion, I am pursuing action, including a report to the FBI in September 2011, on what appears to be a TIGTA cover-up.  It is noteworthy that GM and the Treasury Department have been business partners since June 2009 by way of the controversial $50 billion taxpayer-funded TARP bailout, and also that TIGTA’s refusal to investigate my collusion allegation is eerily similar to the judge’s denying me my right to a trial.  A detailed description of TIGTA’s bizarre actions, as well as its internal documents containing false statements to avoid investigation, are included on donsigner.com.


GM employee becomes Dosanjh’s CFO: Adding to the shocking nature of the GM events is the action of Jim Gentry, a GM employee who, behind my back beginning in early 2005, spearheaded GM’s secret Fremont Auto Mall four-franchise project and the concurrent conspired efforts to induce my exit.  He was also instrumental in creating Mr. Dosanjh’s unprecedented instant GM empire that began in 2008.  After the empire was built and my franchises had been tagged for Mr. Dosanjh, Mr. Gentry left GM after 24 years to become Mr. Dosanjh’s Chief Financial Officer in August 2010.  This career change raises many disturbing questions.

Financial and emotional damage from GM’s actions: From the time that GM selected me to establish Fremont’s first ever Buick dealership in 1980, and first Cadillac dealership in 1990, I proudly operated a successful and highly reputable business into which I invested my heart and soul, as well as all of my capital.  The business was my live­lihood, my lifestyle, my identity in the community, and my primary source of self-esteem.  My loyal employees and customers were my family.  All of that ended with GM’s ruthless action that destroyed everything I had ever worked for, as well as the careers of my employees who averaged thirteen years tenure.

The movie script: The text of, and links to supporting documents for, the unbelievable story of GM’s vicious actions imposed on me appear under the Dealership History tab at the top of this donsigner.com website.  As the story is quite complex with many overlapping “subplots,” I suggest that readers first review the History Timeline (Excel file) (PDF file) in order to aid comprehension of the stranger-than-fiction story.  I should add that many people have encouraged me to have a movie made; a project I will pursue.  Had GM fairly compensated me amicably in late 2006 for the past financial damage and abuse it had inflicted on me, my life would have been much different ever since.  My hostility, and the story that had developed, would have faded away.  As it turned out, the story became even more bizarre in the years that followed.

I believe my story is very significant for U. S. taxpayers who funded the GM bailout, especially those who may be considering supporting General Motors with their purchases of new vehicles.  I think readers will agree that GM’s actions with me for two decades clearly illustrate the arrogant and corrupt corporate culture that led the once highly respected American corporate icon into bankruptcy and taxpayer bailout.  Sadly, it appears that the corporate culture has not changed with the senior management of the new GM corporation.   

I welcome questions and comments, which I will hold in strict confidence.  Please send e-mail to don@donsigner.com.          

I recommend printing the History Timeline (Excel file) (PDF file), then keeping it at hand while reading the Dealership History.            

Don Signer

* Mr. Dosanjh’s East Bay GM dealerships acquired since April 2008 include:

1.      Saturn of Oakland (April 2008 - Closed April 2008.  Purchased and closed simultaneously.)
2.      Saturn of Fremont (April 2008 - Closed January 2009.) 
3.      Hayward Chevrolet (October 2008 - Closed August 2009.)
4.      Fremont Chevrolet (January 2009 - Present.  Formerly Central.)
5.      Dublin Chevrolet-Cadillac (October 2008 - Present.  Formerly Crown.)
6.      Dublin Buick-GMC (April 2009 - Present.  Formerly Dublin Buick-Pontiac-GMC closed by previous owner.) 
7.      Concord Chevrolet (May 2009 - Present.  Formerly Fitzpatrick.)
8.      Fremont Cadillac-GMC-Buick (November 2010 - Present.  Buick & Cadillac from Signer Buick-Cadillac stolen from me by GM)
9.      Fremont Cadillac-GMC-Buick (November 2010 - Present.  GMC from Fremont Pontiac-GMC closed by previous owner.) 
10.     Groth Brothers Chevrolet in Livermore (October 2011 - Closed October 2011.  Purchased and closed simultaneously.) 
(11.  In addition to East Bay points, Mr. Dosanjh acquired Honolulu Buick-GMC-Cadillac in November 2009.)

** It is my opinion only that GM exhibited corruption and was the instigator of the damaging acts, but the opinion is based on overwhelming documented evidence presented on donsigner.com.   

 
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